Indian Health Service Dedicates New Regional Health Center in Red Mesa, Arizona

The Indian Health Service (I H S), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, will hold a formal dedication of the new Four Corners Regional Health Center in Red Mesa, Arizona, on April 4, 2007.

“The services this new facility will provide to over 11,000 Navajos and other beneficiaries residing in the Four Corners Region will help address some of the enormous unmet health needs in Indian Country," said Dr. Charles W. Grim, I H S Director. “The Indian Health Service is proud of this new facility, which serves beneficiaries in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado.”

The new 118,005-square-foot regional health center will support a comprehensive outpatient health care program with a full range of ambulatory care, community health, mental health, dental, associated support services, and Navajo tribal health programs. It will replace a 5,520-square-foot IHS health station in Teec Nos Pos, Arizona, and a non-I H S health care facility in Montezuma Creek, Utah.

The new regional health center has a 24-hour emergency room and a six-bed short stay nursing unit. This facility was built to house a total staff of 249 full-time employees, which includes 37 tribally funded positions. Along with this new facility, 93 new staff housing units have been built.
The design of the center’s interior reflects Navajo culture, with the lobby’s eight-sided cedar dome representing a traditional hogan. Also, the main lobby’s floor design incorporates the Navajo’s four sacred colors of white, blue, yellow, and black, and represents the four sacred mountains. The building’s entrance canopy supports are faced in sandstone to symbolize the Red Mesa.